Conduction
by TooBusyBeingAnAwkoTaco
Summary: Jerome Clarke and Mara Jaffray are stuck at Anubis House together over Easter weekend. Fluffy Jara story, revolving around Easter! Please R&R! JARA! No other pairings included, sorry! ENJOY! HAPPY EASTER!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, HOA Fandom / Jara shippers! This is not the first HOA fanfic I've written, but it's obviously the first I've uploaded to This website! idk if I'm any good at writing these guys, even though I totally love them but yeah. Just... Review and tell me what you think? Please and thank you?**

**This story is not centred around church and Jesus and Christianity (it's centred around Jara — duh!) but it does mention it a bit in this chapter, possibly in chapter three as well. I am Catholic, and I can't write an Easter story without at least mentioning church in some way. Sorry if you don't believe in that stuff. **

**Also, while we're on that topic, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! (Seeing as how it's 1:30Am exact right now). I should be asleep, considering I am going to church at 11am, but nope. Here I am, listening to Sick Puppies, uploading Jara fanfics!**

**Anyways, I should go and let you guys read, but I should mention one important thing first! I have absolutely no idea when this story is set. I was originally thinking it should be during S1, hence my not mentioning Eddie, but I just don't like S1 Mara a whole lot, and I don't know, it's like S2 Jerome and Mara, set in S1. I have no idea. **

**ONE MORE THING: this is the link to Mara's outfit in this chapter will be on my profile! **

**Okay! That's it, I think! READ AND REVIEW!**

**- Emz**

* * *

(1)

Mara Jaffray woke up early on Friday morning, feeling well rested, but also quite lonely. It was Easter weekend, and since her parents were away training, Mara was forced to spend the holiday at Anubis House, alone. Well, Trudy and Victor were there, and she was thankful for that. But Mara still felt lonely.

All of her housemates were gone to stay with family. Nina, who couldn't get a ticket to America, was staying at Fabian's house. Patricia was gone to Italy with her family, Joy, Alfie, and Amber were in London with their families, and Mick was flying to California with his family.

There was one other student, Jerome Clarke. He was staying with his mother for the weekend. Or so Mara thought.

The dark-brunette haired girl eventually got out of bed around 12pm. She put on one of her usual outfits — which consisted of a skirt, shirt and cardigan — and made her way to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth.

After that, she walked down the stairs, instantly engulfed in the glorious scent of pancakes and bacon. She sighed, happy that Trudy stayed for the holiday.

Mara entered the dining room and gave a slight chuckle. The housemother, who was standing in the kitchen, had cooked enough food for ten people. "Trudy, you are cooking for only three people, right?"

"You mean four people? Yeah, I know, but I can't help myself; I'm used to cooking for a large crowd." Trudy snickered, and went back to grilling some sausages.

Mara frowned. Four people? She shook her head and brushed off Trudy's comment. She sat down at her usual seat at the table and began to make her plate.

"Are you willing to join me at church at 3 o'clock?" Trudy questioned, finishing watching her hands. She gave a warm smile.

Mara shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Perfect!" Trudy said clapping her hands together.

At that moment, Jerome Clarke strode into the room, still in his plaid pyjama bottoms and red jumper. He hair was still styled perfectly, for some odd reason. He yawned, stretched, rubbed his eyes and sat down in his seat, beside Mara. Ah; the fourth person.

"You've got no where to go either this holiday, I presume," Jerome greeted with a slight smirk. He started piling pancakes onto his plate.

"Yeah. I thought you were with your mum?" Mara stated, nervously biting into a cinnamon bun.

Of all the people she wanted to be spending a long weekend with, Jerome was at the very bottom of the list. He was always pulling pranks, and being a cold jerk to everyone. Especially her. She didn't like him that much, to say the least.

Jerome let out a shaky breath. "No, I've never stayed with her over the holidays. I'm always here."

"Always?" Mara asked, shocked. She'd thought Anubis House was usually empty over the holidays.

"Always," Jerome clarified.

"Why?" Mara couldn't stop herself from asking.

Jerome visibly tensed. "I'll see you later, Jaffray."

He picked up with plate, and left the room. Trudy looked over at Mara, a questioning eyebrow raised. The younger girl simply shrugged, having no idea what just happened. She's never met Jerome's parents before, and obviously it was a sensitive subject. She felt bad for making him feel awkward in a place where he should be comfortable.

Mara sighed. "I should apologize."

She pushed out of her chair, ready to go knock on the last door down the hallway. But, before she could leave the room, Trudy stopped her. "Maybe give him a minute to calm down, alright, sweetheart? In the meantime, I was thinking of making this dessert for Easter — could you be a dear and help me?"

Mara nodded excitedly. She'd never done anything to Easter-y over the holiday with her parents. Usually, they'd pick her up on Thursday evening, they'd hang out casually on Friday and Saturday, they'd have a turkey dinner on Sunday, then Mara would be back at Anubis House on Monday. It was the same every year.

Except this year. This year would be a different. A good different.

After cleaning up the hardly-touched breakfast, Trudy informed the prestigious student about the dessert they were going to make: chocolate-covered cookie dough truffles. They had to make chocolate ship cookies dough, melt chocolate chips, then cover the egg-shaped cookie dough balls in chocolate. Simple, but delicious looking.

Mara was in charge of melting the chocolate. As she started boiling water on the oven, Trudy got a call on the phone. The housemother went to take the call, and exited whilst saying, "Get Jerome to make the cookie dough for me, please."

Mara moved the pot off the oven and left the kitchen, walking across the hall to Jerome's bedroom. She lightly knocked three times before opening the door herself.

Jerome sat on his bed, staring blank-faced at a small photograph. Mara couldn't see what the picture was of exactly, and she forced herself not to press questions about it. "Trudy wants you to help make something. Chocolate-covered cookie dough truffles."

Jerome perked up at the mention of food. The plate of breakfast he's brought to the room with him was sitting on his table, only half-eaten but now cold. He was still probably hungry.

Mara noticed this and frowned. "You can't eat the cookie dough, if that's what you're thinking."

Jerome gave a breathy chuckle. "You can read me like a book, Mara Jaffray."

She frowned again, deeper this time. "Only sometimes. Usually you're emotionless and blank-faced. I can never tell what you're thinking or feeling."

The boy shrugged. "Because I'm usually not thinking or feeling anything."

"That can't be true," Mara protested. Jerome put down the picture and stood up.

"Don't we have truffles to make?" He inquired, leaving the room and heading towards the kitchen. Mara sighed, following him out and shutting the door behind her.

Trudy entered the kitchen through the dining room, just as Mara pushed the pot of water back onto the hot oven. The housemother was putting a jacket on as she did so. "I'm heading out, and I should only be gone for half an hour or so. I want those truffles in the freezer by the time I get back! No fighting while I'm gone, either."

When she was gone, Jerome turned and smirked at the shorter girl beside him. "Since I'm four months and six days older than you, I'm in charge."

Mara almost laughed. "We're not ten years old, Jerome. I get to be in charge since, obviously, I'm smarter and more mature than you. Plus, I know what we're doing."

Jerome raised a slender eyebrow. "Shouldn't be that hard, should it? Making cookie dough and melting chocolate? Not exactly rocket science, now is it?"

"Shut up." Mara ordered through gritted teeth, feeling her cheeks heat up. She absolutely hate it when people made her feel stupid.

"Oh, Mara Jaffray is blushing. How adorable." Jerome commented, clapping his hands. He bopped her nose teasingly and Mara stepped away.

"Can you maybe not be a jerk this weekend? It's bad enough my parents have abandoned me for sports; I don't need you being rude." Mara stated simply and clearly. Jerome scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sorry. So, uh, that's why you're here then? You're parents abandoned you for sports?" He asked, looking at her a bit sadly, as if he understood how she felt. But he couldn't understand, could he? No one did.

"Yeah. They're training in Spain. I don't have any other relatives I'm close to, so in forced to stay here. What about you, Jerome Clarke? Why are you spending Easter at the boarding house?"

He turned his back to her and began measuring the required amount of sugar. Mara knew she wouldn't get an answer from him anyways. What was the point of asking such a personal question, when she knew the answer wouldn't come?

She put a metal bowl over top of the water once it boiled. She hated the uncomfortable silence in the room, so Mara decided to break it. Whilst pouring chocolate chips into the bowl, she said, "I know you said it's not exactly rocket science, but science is involved in this situation."

Mara heard him snort a bit, but he didn't actually reply. She decided to continue. "Conduction. Substances and mixtures. The Particle Theory. All eighth year stuff, basically."

He just shook his head at her, a smile evident on his cheeks. "You're world literally revolves around science, doesn't it?"

Her cheeks turned red again, and she looked at her shoes. She began stirring the chips around in the bowl as they melted. "I guess so. I just spend so much time learning about it, reading about it, and studying for it... It's just become a habit to associate everything I do to science."

"Your life must be quite boring." He teased.

She laughed. Truly, genuinely laughed. Jerome even raised his eyebrows surprisedly at this. "You're laughing because its true, right?"

Mara shook her head, still giggling a tiny bit. "No, my life is not boring. I just find it funny because its totally not surprising that you find science boring."

"Well, it is, isn't it? I don't even remember all the eighth-year science mumbo-jumbo you were going on about; I think I fell asleep in every class that term." Jerome said truthfully, thinking back to when he was 13-years-old.

"Oh. Well, conduction is simple, really. It's just the transfer of heat through physical contact. For example," she gestured to the chocolate chips that's were basically melted. "The boiling water transfers heat to the metal bowl, which transfers to the chocolate chips, causing them to melt."

"Hm. I think I understand. I might need more examples, though," he said, grinning at her slyly. She nudged him to get him to stop.

"Substances and mixtures is what you're doing, basically. Baking. Cooking. It's all about solutions, mechanical mixtures, saturated, unsaturated, supersaturated, diluted, concentrated, et cetera." She continued, deciding that the chocolate was now completely melted. Now she just had to wait for Jerome to finish with the cookie dough.

"Mara's a genius," Jerome teased, poking her side playfully. She liked this side of Jerome; the fun, sweet, happy side. It was nice to see it every once in a while.

She rolled her eyes and took out a spoon from the drawer. Mara took a spoonful of melted chocolate and ate it, forgetting about how hot it was.

Mara dropped the spoon as it touched her tongue. The chocolate that was on it had flung off and created a tiny mess on the floor. She, caring more about her burnt tongue than the mess, got a glass of cold water and drank it quickly.

Jerome stifled a laugh. "I was right; Mara is a genius."

Mara glared at him. As Jerome wetted a napkin and began to clean up the mess, Mara felt a small smile creep on to her cheeks. "Conduction; the heat from the chocolate transferred to the spoon, which transferred to my tongue, causing it to burn."

Jerome chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

Once the truffles were finished and put in a container in the freezer, Jerome went back to his room. Mara didn't know what else to do, so she went to hers. It was around 1:30pm when she did so.

She spent half an hour reading a book and texting Joy, who was at a large family gathering and was bored out of her mind. Joy had no relatives her age: they were all either ten years younger than her, or over ten years older. Mara found this hilarious.

Trudy entered around 2 o'clock, smiling warmly. "Just wanted to let you know that we're leaving around 2:30 for church, if you still plan on coming."

Mara nodded. "Of course. Thanks, Truds."

"See you later, lovely."

The short, brunette haired girl stood up and headed over to her vanity table. After a quick glance in the mirror, she decided her outfit was okay — a black skirt, a white shirt, a waterfall blue dip-dyed cardigan, white sandals, and her Deathly Hallows necklaces — but her hair was not. After laying in bed for a while, he hair had managed to end up looking like a mess.

She plugged in her straightener and sat back in her chair, waiting for it to heat up. It was really quiet and peaceful at Anubis, when hardly anyone was there. Mara kind of enjoyed it, though she still missed her friends dearly. She hoped all their holidays were going great.

After straightening her hair, Mara pinned two pieces back behind her head and smiled at her reflection. She looked nice, and she liked looking nice. It made her feel happy and confident.

Mara picked up a silver cross ring from her jewelry box and slipped it onto her right ring finger, and smiled at it. It used to belong to her grandmother, that ring, and she loved it. She tried to wear it as often as she could, but sometimes she just forgot, what with the stress of school and all. She really did like it, though.

Just as she stood up from her chair, Jerome leaned against her doorframe. He wore black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a black tie. "Trudy's gone to start the car. You ready?"

Mara smiled at him and nodded. He smirked back at her and they walked down the stairs together, both feeling rather happy to have company on that lonely weekend.

It was raining outside; a light, sprinkling, sad rain. The clouds were a dull grey, and it was freezing, probably minus ten degrees. Mara wrapped her cardigan tighter around her stomach and waited with Jerome for Trudy to pull the car up to the house.

The mass was a longer one, but Mara still enjoyed it. She grew up going to church every Sunday with her grandparents, but after they passed away, Mara drifted away from the church. She was happy to be back, despite the fact that the were remembering the crucifixion of The Lord that day.

Jerome wasn't big on the whole religion thing, but he still went to church during Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas. Trudy always went to mass on those special holidays, and ever since he was 14, he didn't want her to go alone anymore. So he started going with her.

Mara didn't know that, obviously. But she noticed how Jerome mutter responses under his breath, as if her knew them off by heart. She smiled, realizing he must go to to church somewhat often.

When the church ceremony was over, Trudy took them out for fish and chips. By the time they got back to Anubis House, it was nearly 7pm.

"I had a nice day today, Jaffray," Jerome said, shrugging off his jacket. "And you know what? I'm going to buy you a gift for Easter. Tomorrow, I'm heading into to town."

Mara smiled happily. "And I'm going to join you tomorrow, so I can buy you a gift."

"It's a date," Jerome stated with a wicked grin, before heading off to his room.

Mara walked up the stairs to the girls corridor, feeling light and bubbly. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be all that bad after all.

* * *

**Woo! a whole 2,566 words! **

**One more thing I forgot: I think there will be four, possibly five chapters. I don't know yet, since I am still writing. **

**HAPPY EASTER**

**- Emz**


	2. Chapter 2

**Holy crap, this chapter is freaking 3,273 words! This is like the longest chapter I have ever written for anything!**

**also, HAPPY LATE EASTER EVERYONE! (It's 1:36am right now — jeez, what's with me updating at 1am every stinking morning?!) you'll never believe what my parents got me: the three HOA books! Yeah, they're titled "The Eye of Horus", "The Cup of Ankh", and "The Mask of Anubis". I can't wait to read them, even though I already know what happens haha. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! link for Mara's outfit is on my profile!**

**also, ignore any mistakes in the chapter! I wrote most of it while I was half asleep. I'm not even sure if the ending makes sense, but oh well. I'm waaaaay too lazy and tired to reread this whole thing right now. **

**ENJOY!**

**- Emz**

* * *

(2)

Mara stood at the bottom of the stairs, a black purse slung over her shoulder, and a large grin on her cheeks. She had just finished breakfast and was now waiting for Jerome to grab his wallet so they could leave to go shopping. Mara wore a simple pair of skinny jeans, black Toms, a grey jumper that said 'I Like Cats' on it, and her hair was down with her bangs pinned up.

Jerome strode out of his room and down the hall. He smirked when he noticed her shirt. "You like cats, huh?"

Mara hugged her stomach insecurely. Did he not like it? Wait — since when did she care about Jerome Clarke's opinion? She nodded, none the less, knowing that she really did like cats. She used to have one as a kid, but she had to give it away once she moved into Anubis House.

"Hm. Maybe I should buy you a kitten for Easter," Jerome joked, swinging the car keys around his finger as the exited the house. Trudy said it was okay for him to borrow the car, since she didn't feel like driving them into town that day.

Mara shook her head. "Can't. Remember Victor's 'No pets allowed' rule?"

"Right. Hey, maybe we should get a gift for Victor today. He's such a grouchy old man who needs some happiness in life. Plus, he's done a lot for me." Jerome admitted. Mara knew enough to not press any questions on that subject, or he would change topics.

She nodded and they entered the car. "Also a gift for Trudy."

"Never forget the housemother," Jerome chuckled, starting up the car.

They drove for a bit, talking nonchalantly about anything really, except Jerome's family. Mara would mention her parents here and there, hoping to get a reaction from him, or get him to slip up about his past. But it was no use. Jerome just chose not to talk about his family.

They got to the shopping centre in town, and decided to shop for Victor's and Trudy's gifts first. For Victor, they got him a tiny box of about ten new pins (as a sort of joke), a simple bow tie, and a mug that read 'Super Taxidermist'. That one was also kind of a joke, and the two teens laughed out loud when they saw it.

For Trudy, they got her flowers, a box of chocolate eggs, and a new floral shirt. They also got some bows and gift bags to put the presents in.

There was an Asda store in the mall, and Mara found herself being dragged in there by Jerome. He lead her over to the section with all the Easter stuff, and Mara rolled her eyes, a smile on her cheeks. He could be such a kid sometimes.

Jerome picked up a pair of pink bunny ears and handed them to her. "Put them on."

Mara laughed and did as she was told. Before she knew what happened, Jerome had pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of her, wearing the bunny ears. She was probably making a ridiculous face in the picture, too.

"Jerome!" Mara exclaimed, but she couldn't shake the grin from her cheeks. "Delete that, right now!"

"No way, Jaffray. We need to take more." He stated confidentially, whilst picking up a stuffed toy duck and throwing it at her. Mara caught it and he took another picture.

They spent about half an hour doing that; giving each other random props and then taking quick photos of each other with them. People walking by would give them strange looks at how they were behaving, but a few actually smiled or laughed as well.

After about 75 pictures had been taken, a store clerk approached them, smiling and chuckling slightly. She was young, maybe in her twenties, with long red hair and glasses. "I hate to do this, since you guys are being totally adorable, but... Are you ever actually going to buy anything?"

Mara felt her cheeks heat up and she looked at her shoes. She hated getting in trouble, even if, technically, the store clerk didn't really tell them to stop. Plus, she called them adorable, and that embarrassed Mara greatly. Were they really acting that cutesy for a store clerk to comment on it?

"Yes, actually," Jerome stated, and picked up a box. After scanning the writing on it quickly, he showed it to the clerk lady. "Easter Egg Decorating Kit; Jaffray and I are going to decorate eggs today."

"We are?" Mara asked, confused.

"We are." Jerome confirmed with a smile directed the clerk.

She chuckled. "Okay, well, have fun with that."

The clerk left and Mara smacked Jerome's arm. "I knew we'd get in trouble!"

"We didn't get in trouble, per se," He stated, placing the box under his arm. "We just got questioned by a nice store clerk."

"Right. Whatever," Mara huffed. "I hate to admit it, but I am having fun today."

"Why do you hate to admit it?" He probed as they neared the cash register. They stood in line and Mara shrugged.

"I've never really liked you that much; you're always pulling pranks on me and humiliating me I front of a ton of other students. I told myself not to get close to you for fear of you hurting me." She said, not meeting his eyes. He quirked an eyebrow at the last statement. "But, this weekend has really changed my opinion on you, Jerome Clarke. You're actually really sweet. And fun."

"I didn't know you felt that way about me, Jaffray," he teased, and Mara smacked his arm lightly. "Anyways, we really are decorating eggs tonight, just so you know."

Mara smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

Once they finished the purchases, Jerome checked the time on his watch. "Alright, now I want your gift to be a surprise, so we're going to part ways. It's 2:30 right now; we'll meet at the front entrance around 3:30. Sound good?"

Mara nodded, sad but anxious. It was fun spending time with Jerome; he was hilarious and kept making jokes along the way. It would be quiet, shopping by herself. But, she did want his gift to be a surprise, too, so she knew they had to separate for the hour.

"Do you still have money left?" He asked, as they exited the shop they were in.

Mara looked peered into her purse and opened her wallet before nodded. "Yeah, I've got about £60 left. What about you?"

"I've got just enough for your present," He said with a smile. "I'll see you later, then."

Mara waved and they both walked in opposite directions. Judging by what he'd said, he most likely already knew what he was getting her. She still had no idea what to get him, but she was now determined to find the perfect gift.

She browsed through many shops, absently swinging around the bag that held Trudy's gifts and the egg decorating kit. Time was running out and she still didn't have a clue what to get the prankster of Anubis House.

She ended up buying him a giant chocolate rabbit, other sweets and treats, a blue striped jumper, and a copy of the new video game 'Night of the Zombies 4.' Mara was proud if her purchases, and hoped desperately that Jerome would liked them.

Since the mall food court was right near the entrance, Mara sat at a table close to the doors for a break. She set her bags on the table and pulled out her phone to check the time; 3:30pm exact.

Mara sat there and waited for what seemed like forever. She kept gazing around, hoping to spot the tall, blonde-haired boy through the crowd of shoppers. Eventually, she did, and he had a ginormous grin on his face.

Our favourite bookworm grabbed her bags an purse and hurried over to him. "Hey, ready to go?"

"Yes, definitely. I'm excited to decorate those eggs," He joked, and they left the shopping centre, both wondering what the other had bought them.

Back at Anubis House, Trudy greeted them happily. "How was the shopping trip?"

"Really fun, actually," Mara said, a smiled at Jerome. "Do you have any tissue paper we could use for our gifts? We forgot to buy some."

"Of course, let me go grab it." She said, leaving the room.

Jerome faced the short, raven-haired girl beside him. "I don't want you to see your gift."

"I don't want you to see your gift, either." Mara replied.

"Okay, so I'll take Victor's gift and your gift and wrap them in my room. You can take Trudy's gift and my gift and wrap them in your room. Sound good?" Jerome decided.

"What about this?" Mara asked, holding up the bag that contained the egg decorating kit.

"Oh, right. We can decorate them after dinner, if you'd like?" He said, a smirk growing on his cheeks.

She smiled. "I'd like."

Trudy came back with two packages of green tissue paper. Mara took one, Jerome took the other, and then they both went to their rooms.

Just as Mara shut her bedroom door, she heard a 'ding' sound from her laptop that sat on her bedside table. She dropped her many shopping bags on her bed and picked up her laptop, sitting down. She opened it up and saw that she had a group VideoChat request from Joy. Also in the chat were Patricia, Amber, Nina, Alfie, and Mick. Mara accepted the request.

The other students were mid-conversation when she did so. But, once her face appeared on everyone else's laptop screens, they all greeted her warmly. Fabian and Nina seemed to be in a cozy living room, Joy was outside under a tree, Patricia was in a hotel room with Piper beside her, Alfie was in a bedroom, Amber was in a bedroom too but her's was much more pink, and Mick seemed to be in a beach house.

"Hey, guys," Mara said with a smile, turning the volume up on her laptop a bit. "How're your holidays so far?"

"Pretty great," Joy said, and conversation broke out once more.

Mara only half listened to her friends talking about their amazing holidays. She focused on putting Trudy's gifts into a light pink bag and filling the excess space with tissue paper. Once she was done there, she began to work on Jerome's gift, forgetting she was on VideoChat. She started folding the jumper she'd gotten Jerome when her friends fell silent.

"Mara, what are you doing?" Patricia asked, narrowing her eyes.

Mara's cheeks heated up. "I, uh, got an Easter gift for Trudy."

"You got her a boy's jumper?" Fabian asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"No!" Mara exclaimed, quickly shoving it into the red gift bag. "This isn't for Trudy! It's for, um... Jerome."

Everyone stayed silent, before Alfie piped up. "Why'd you get Jerome a present?"

"Are you guys secretly dating?" Amber asked, grinning and clapping her hands. "Yay! Jara!"

"What? No, Amber, we're not dating," Mara stated, much to the blonde's disappointment. "He stayed at Anubis House this weekend, too, so we decided to get each other Easter gifts, that's all."

Joy snorted. "I'm sure that's true."

Mara blushed like mad. "It is true! I swear!"

"I didn't know Jerome stayed at Anubis," Mick said, looking confused."

"Yeah," Nina agreed. "I thought he was at his Mom's."

Mara shrugged. "I don't know why he stayed, but he said he always does, every holiday."

Alfie gave a nervous chuckle. "I better go, guys. Text you later!"

He logged off, and the topic switched from Jerome to everyone's vacations again. Once 5 o'clock rolled around, Trudy knocked on Mara's door and asked her to help with dinner. Mara complied and logged off soon after that.

She hid the two gift bags under her bed and left the room, following the housemother down to the kitchen. Jerome sat at the table, his laptop in front of him. He seemed to be on his profile page. He perked up when he saw her enter. "Just in time, Jaffray; I need your help."

"With what?" Mara probed, knotting her eyebrows together.

Jerome gestured to the screen. All the photos he'd taken of her at the store earlier that day were now up on his laptop. "I'm trying to choose the best pictures to put on my profile."

Mara chuckled. "Well, definitely not that one."

Jerome gaped at her. "No, that one's my favourite!"

"But look at my face!"

"Your face looks gorgeous in all the pictures."

Mara was silent, unable to respond to the compliment he just gave he. He practically called her pretty, and that, for some odd reason, made her heart flutter and her knees become weak. She didn't understand, and didn't want to, for that matter. She decided to pretend like his comment didn't phase her.

"I have pictures of you on my phone, remember." Mara stated, pulling the device out of her back pocket. "Shall I email them to you?"

Jerome sighed and forced a smile. "You shall, I suppose."

Mara sent all 45 pictures she'd taken to his email, and his laptop notified him only a few seconds later. He opened the messages and saved all the pictures to his computer. "So, what? You want me to upload all 97 pictures to my profile?"

"Yes, and you better tag me as well." She said with a twinkling smile. Mara entered the kitchen and begun to help Trudy prepare the pasta.

"Jerome, be a dear and set the table." Trudy called out to the boy who was snickering to himself as he scrolled through the hilarious pictures.

He closed the laptop and got up. As he was grabbing the bowls, Mara smiled to herself. "Conduction," she said, trying not to laugh. Jerome directed his attention towards her. "Heat from the stove transfers to the pot, which transfers to the water, which transfers to the pasta, causing it to cook."

Jerome chuckled and shook his head in amusement, leaving the kitchen to place the dishes and utensils on the table.

Dinner went by quickly, and Trudy actually ate with the kids for a change. It was nice to have conversations over supper with the housemother. It was a really nice meal; one of the best Mara's ever had at her time at Anubis House.

When Mara and Jerome were finished washing their dishes, Jerome raised his eyes. "Trudy, do you have a carton of eggs handy?"

She nodded. "I believe we have some in the refrigerator. Why?"

"Jaffray and I are going to decorate them!" He said childishly, causing both Mara and Trudy to laugh.

"Children at heart, I swear," Trudy mumbled to herself, still chuckling slightly. "Anyways, yes, you can decorate the eggs. Do you have—?"

"I have the kit in my room," Mara stated, smiling and quickly ascending the stairs to the girls corridor. She entered her room, grabbed the green box, and hurriedly rushed down the steps.

"Walking, Miss Jaffray," Victor tutted from his office. Mara apologized and continued her trek to the dining room.

That was probably the second time she'd seen the housekeeper that weekend. The first being when he peered into her room at 10pm the previous night and informed her about lights out. Since she and Jerome were the only students at the house, Victor really didn't feel the need to shout out the curfew reminder, so he simply went to their rooms to tell them.

Mara got back to the kitchen and her and Jerome got right to work. Trudy helped them a bit, mostly with making the dyes and boiling the eggs. After that, Mara and Jerome were alone at the table, free to decorate the eggs however they wanted to.

"Have you ever done this before?" Jerome probed, picking up an egg and swiftly tossing it into his other hand.

Mara, blushing, shook her head. "My parents were never big on decorating eggs. We did everything else during Easter, like egg hunts and stuff, but never this. What about you?"

Jerome shrugged. "I have a few times when I was younger. It's simple, really."

He began to explain to the girl across from him about how you could dye the eggs a ton of different ways, and also explained the white crayons that came in the box. They were used to add designs onto the eggs that would appear after you dyed them.

"Hm. Let me try..." Mara picked up an egg and a crayon, and drew something on it quickly. Then, she lightly dropped it into the small bowl of blue dye.

"What'd you draw?" Jerome asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

She shook her head. "It's a surprise. Just wait."

Jerome clicked his tongue and wrote something on an egg of his own. He put his in the orange dye.

They passed time by drawing other designs or symbols or pictures on other eggs. Eventually, Mara used a spoon to pull her first one out of the blue dye.

Jerome eyed the dark blue egg confusedly. It seemed to be just blue — ah, wait. Mara turned it over and Jerome noticed the Deathly Hallows symbol drawn on it. He gave a teasing chuckle.

"I should've known," he teased, and Mara flicked some purple dye at him.

He gasped, and glanced down at the few drops of dye that stained his shirt. "I didn't know you had it in you to do something so.. Rash."

Mara scoffed. "Rash. Right. Because you haven't done worse things."

Jerome laughed at how snide and snarky the usually quiet bookworm was being. He decided that maybe she finally felt comfortable around him, and that realization brightened his mood.

"What does your egg say?" Mara pondered, nodding towards the bowl of orange dye.

Jerome shrugged a shoulder. "You'll see eventually; I'm going to leave it in a bit longer."

But Mara did not end up seeing what the egg said, because they had gotten so distracted with the other eggs and dodging each others dye attacks. They had actually forgotten about it.

When the clock struck 9pm, Mara yawned and stretched out her arms. "I'm getting really tired, J. Is it okay if I go ahead to bed?"

J. Was that her new nickname for him? He liked it. A lot.

"Sure, sure. You're sleepy, so you need your rest. I clean up." Jerome gave her a warm smile which she returned, and she pushed up from her chair. "Oh, and Mara?"

She raised her eyebrows, absently rubbing her eyes.

"Trudy's taking us to mass at 11am, so set your alarm for sometime earlier than that," Jerome informed her.

Mara nodded and exited the room, mumbling a quiet "goodnight" over her shoulder.

As Jerome began to put the eggs in one of the colourful baskets Trudy had left on the counter, he noticed one more egg, the one that he'd left in the orange dye.

He plucked it out and looked at what he'd written, a sad expression on his features. Mara could never see what was written on the egg.

"Jerome?" A voice asked, and the boy jumped in sudden fright. He dropped the egg he was holding in the basket and spun around. He saw Trudy standing there. "I think we're all calling it a night; you might as well get to bed, too."

He nodded. "Right."

Jerome headed for his bedroom, completely forgetting about the bright orange egg he left out in the open. The one he didn't want anyone to see.

* * *

**Next chapter will probably be up tomorrow! If not, than Tuesday! I want to finish this story before the end of the week, since it is an Easter story, after all. **

**REVIEW!**

**- Emz**


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